Guatemala stunned Mexico with a goal five minutes into the game and maintained its lead at the half, but Mexico scored twice in the second half, including the winner by Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez, as it rallied to win, 2-1, tonight and advance to the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals before 78,807 at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

Guatemala’s early goal stunned Mexico. Elias Vasquez drove a long ball down the center of the field from Guatemala’s side. Guatemala forward Carlos Ruiz and Mexico defender Hector Moreno battled for position at the top of the box as the ball came down.

Moreno stuck out his leg to knock the ball away, but he never made contact. At that point, Mexico goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera came sprinting off his line but Ruiz got to the ball first and, as he fell to the ground, volleyed it over Talavera’s head for a 1-0 lead.

“The team is very strong at the core. They know they can win under any adversity,” Mexico coach Jose Manuel de la Torre said. “The ealy goal put us back and made it complicated and heavy, but we knew we could come back, and we did.”

Guatemala nearly doubled the lead in the 34th minute but failed to convert on a quick counterattack.
Ruiz dribbled 50 yards down the center of the field, drawing the defense to him. Just before he got to the top of the arc, he slipped a pass to Marco Pappa in the left side of the box, but Pappa lined his shot into the near-side netting.

De la Torre inserted Aldo De Nigris into the game at the start of the second half and the move paid off.

Off a cross, Pablo Barrera volleyed the ball from the right side across the box to Moreno, whose header was punched away by Guatemala goalkeeper Ricardo Jerez. The ball fell to the ground and Moreno poked it on net. It rebounded out to De Nigris, who pushed it past Jerez for the tying goal.

Hernandez scored his tournament-high sixth goal in the 66th minute, redirecting a cross from the right by Barrera past Jerez for a 2-1 lead.

“The goal was just instinct. I saw the ball at my feet and put the ball in the net,” Hernandez said. “This time it was different than the other games when we scored first. We went in and we knew we had to work hard in the second half to get our chances.”

In the opening game, Carlos Costly, Victor Bernardez, Wilson Palacios and Jerry Bengtson converted penalty kicks for Honduras. Bryan Ruiz and Joel Campbell scored in the shootout for Costa Rica, but Celso Borges and Alvaro Saborio each had their PKs hit the crossbar.

For Saborio, it was his second penalty kick miss; he failed to convert in the 76th minute.

Honduras snapped a scoreless tie in the 49th minute. A long pass from midfield was brought down by Honduras’ Javier Portillo. His cross was deflected by Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas but the ball rolled into the path of Bengtson, who easily pushed it into the open net.

Costa Rica tied it in the 56th minute. Dennis Marshall outleaped the Honduran defense to head the ball down and into the net on a bounce.